THE Volume 91, Issue 4
Q
UADRANGLE A Student Publication of Manhattan College Since 1924
Feb. 10, 2015
www.mcquad.org
Racial Justice Teach-In
Natalie Sullivan Senior Staff Writer
In the wake of the ongoing debate about racism in the American justice system, a racial justice teach-in was held in Smith Auditorium last Wednesday featuring panels discussing the many facets of racism. The panels were made up of faculty, students, alumni and local community organizers speaking on topics such as the psychology of racial identification and the experience of race and racism. “Over the last year or two as news of the many prominent cases of young, unarmed African American men, like many people, I’ve been very upset about it,” David Witzling, associate professor of English and organizer of the teach-in, said. These prominent cases include those in Ferguson, M.O. and New York City over
the deaths of black men by police force which have stirred up a national conversation on racism and policing. Michael Brown was an unarmed black teenager killed in a police shooting in Ferguson on Aug. 9 of last year, which sparked widespread protests throughout the state and the nation. A grand jury chose not to indict his shooter, however two federal civil rights investigations were launched into Ferguson police force. Similarly, Eric Garner died after a police chokehold on Staten Island on July 17 of last year. The police officer involved in the incident was not indicted by a grand jury. “I was very quick to think that students and faculty on campus ought to do something to discuss what seems to be a pattern happening with American society,” Witzling said. Jawanza Clark, an assistant professor of religious studies, led a portion of the teach-in on Martin Luther King Jr. and the politics of respectability. During his talk,
Clark described the trend among African Americans and other minorities to feel as if they have to act a certain way to have a place in society. Clark relates the theme to a famous Bill Cosby routine in which he encourages young black men to “pull up their pants.” “[Cosby] used to represent sort of a black politics of respectability position, which is that if you just go to school, speak English, pull up your pants and present yourself as ‘respectable,’ then you won’t be treated in these ways,” Clark said. “[Cosby] sort of embodies that idea. I think sometimes white students get confused when they hear black people articulating those ideas. It’s a problem that black people internalize these racist assumptions.” During another portion of the lecture, Witzling offered introductory remarks and a lecture. Witzling and others discussed some statistics on racism in the American justice system and the factors which may
Christian Roodal/The Quadrangle contribute to these trends. “I’ve been long interested as a teacher and a scholar in the history of race relations in this country and in getting students to think about how racial identities are formed and the persistence of racism in our society,” Witzling said. Students and staff alike were impressed by the presentations at the teach-in, and many felt that the forum was constructive and hoped for similar conversations in the future. “I thought it to be very important because [this type of conversation] truly does mobilize social change,” Bridget Avila, a senior communication student, said. “It also shows a huge diffusion of our campus of our campus groups and individual students creating unity and leadership in order to make a change.” Avila said, “There was a lot to discuss Continued on page 3
Clubs on Campus Struggle to Find Approval for Fundraising Ideas Anthony Capote Assistant Editor
The Sigma Delta Tau sorority is one of the newest Greek life options on campus and, as a result, still struggles with the dif� ficulties of being a new club. Some of those struggles include find� ing effective ways to fundraise on campus and to get those ideas approved by the Of� fice of Student Activities. “We do a lot of philanthropy work, we fundraise for Prevent Child Abuse America and women’s empowerment groups,” SDT secretary Julie Teller said. According to Teller, SDT only received an $800 budget from Student Activities for the year. In her freshman and sophomore year, Teller said that clubs used to be able to hold bake sales but are no longer allowed to do so by Student Activities. Last November, The Quadrangle re�
ported on fundraising policies at MC and found that the reason for this policy is be� cause of the legal ramifications of spoiled or undercooked foods being sold on cam� pus. “There’s a public safety issue of food on campus, where—������������������� God forbid��������� —if some� one gets a food sickness, allergy or some� thing isn’t cooked correctly, it can create a lot of liability issues,” Student Activities Director John Bennett said. Of course, SDT doesn���������������� ’��������������� t only have is� sues when it comes to selling food. Club fundraising is no easy work. It re� quires tedious planning and paperwork and often a budget that, for some clubs, is less than they had hoped for. Policies surrounding fundraised money also require clubs to give some of the pro� ceeds back to Student Activities. “For example, if a club raises $700, they can donate 50 percent of that money to a charity, but if they make $2000, they can donate $500,” Bennett said.
According to Bennett, the money given back to Student Activities is factored into the club’s budget. However, for philanthropy clubs like SDT, the money wasn’t meant to be kept for their own budget, which still does not exceed $1,000. Instead, fundraised money is intended for the charities that the soror� ity has partnered with. The most difficult part, according to SDT members, of fundraising under these circumstances is feeling like they have to earn the trust of the group’s facilitators, Student Activities. “I think it����������������������������� ’���������������������������� s harder because we are new� er and they don’t really know us as well as they now the other Greek organizations on campus,” Emily Garvilla, president of SDT, said, who noted the club’s difficulty being granted access to rooms in the Stu� dent Commons for recruitment time next week. The concept of new clubs needing to “earn the trust” of Student Activities is not
unheard of. The American Society of Civil Engineers, which has a student chapter at MC, has expressed a similar view. “You have to prove that you are go� ing to use the entire budget every year, and it will probably get approved,” Anderson Garcia, who is the treasurer of ASCE, said. ASCE, which does not conduct fund� raisers because they consider themselves a professional group and see no need, has seen in an increase in their club budget for three consecutive years. That budget, ac� cording to Garcia, is over $1,000. Student Activities remains adamant that no one club is more important than an� other and those that receive more money are given that based on expenses. “It���������������������������������� ’��������������������������������� s not that we don���������������� ’��������������� t want to fund� raise, it’s just hard to come up with ideas with the parameters that they give us,” Teller said, “every other sorority in the world can sell ice cream but we can’t.”